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The Occupy with Art blog provides updates on projects in progress, opinion articles about art-related issues and OWS, useful tools built by artists for the movement, new features on the website, and requests for assistance. To submit a post, contact us at occupationalartschool(at)gmail(dot)com .

Entries in nato thompson (1)

Tuesday
Oct042011

#OccupyWallStreet at Creative Time's "Living As Form" Exhibit

On Thursday, October 5, Occupy Wall Street will participate in the Living As Form expo at its Essex Street location. More details TBA.

Nato Thompson of Creative Time posted this essay, "The Occupation of Wall Street Across Time and Space" at the European Institute for Progressive Cultural Studies website. He writes:

The occupation of Wall Street continues with vast alacrity and momentum. What began as an AdBusters’ call to accountability has captured a reservoir of frustration and inequity moving across the United States and beyond. Here in New York City, this particular moment defies easy categorization or analysis as it continues to move in directions that defy previous expectations and critiques. The occupation is ever in flux. Nonetheless, as the occupation (and numerous planned and spontaneous marches) heads into its three weeks amidst a fairly extensive media blackout in the United States, the movement is clearly heading into a different organizational and theoretical manifestation.

On his Dark Matter blog, Greg Sholette interviewed Nato, and the convergence of Living As Form and OWS was one of the topics they discussed:

Greg: And just one quick follow up Nato, as you know the Wall Street occupation emerged simultaneously with Living as Form and I see you and others involved in the art event made it a point to go down to Liberty Plaza and get directly involved in it. Perhaps its too soon to ask this, but do you see this as another link to the Summit and the exhibition, or as something more integral to their spirit, and therefore capable of playing a transformative role of some sort for social practice art going forwards?

Nato: I wouldn’t want to place too much emphasis on the spontaneous walk down to the occupation as frankly, it was the only reasonable thing to do. Participating in existing social movements is critical for anyone alive today let alone socially engaged artists. I mean, lets face it, having this occupation at the same time of the exhibition and summit was something that is hard to ignore. It has been an extremely poetic convergence and I am glad that even a hand full of folks have gathered down there and are now working to add what they can to the movement. That said, we could certainly use more help. If you are interested in joining the ranks down there, this is your invitation (I am speaking to the readers). Just walk down to Liberty Plaza, go to the info desk and ask how you can plug in. The more, the merrier.